Chess Opening Traps

Sneaky opening traps to catch unprepared opponents and punish common mistakes early in the game.

All Traps (15)

  • Scholar's Mate - The four-move checkmate that every beginner must learn to spot and every experienced player must learn to punish.
  • Fool's Mate - The fastest possible checkmate in chess, delivered in just two moves when White makes catastrophic opening errors.
  • The Fried Liver Attack - A ferocious knight sacrifice on f7 that has been terrorising unprepared players of the Two Knights Defense for centuries.
  • The Fishing Pole Trap - A sneaky knight maneuver in the Ruy Lopez that lures White into a devastating kingside attack.
  • The Stafford Gambit - A dubious but dangerous pawn sacrifice in the Petrov Defense that creates a minefield of tactical traps for White.
  • The Englund Gambit Trap - A surprising queen maneuver that wins White's e-pawn and sometimes the entire game after an unsuspecting d4.
  • The Blackburne Shilling Gambit - A crafty knight move in the Italian Game that baits White into a devastating queen-and-knight combination.
  • The Elephant Trap - A classic Queen's Gambit Declined trap that punishes White for an early bishop pin with a devastating piece win.
  • The Lasker Trap - A brilliant pawn sacrifice in the Queen's Gambit Accepted that wins White's queen through a stunning discovered attack.
  • The Siberian Trap - A devastating queen infiltration in the Smith-Morra Gambit that catches White in a lethal pin on the c-file.
  • Noah's Ark Trap - One of the oldest known chess traps, where Black traps White's bishop behind a wall of pawns in the Ruy Lopez.
  • The Monticelli Trap - A cunning Italian Game trick where White uses a central pawn break to trap Black's bishop and win material.
  • The Cambridge Springs Trap - A powerful counter-attack in the Queen's Gambit Declined that targets White's pinned knight and wins material.
  • The Rubinstein Trap - A deep positional trap in the Queen's Gambit where Black wins material through a precisely timed tactical sequence.
  • Legal's Mate Trap - A brilliant queen sacrifice followed by a stunning three-piece checkmate that punishes an early bishop pin in the Philidor Defense.